Playhouse Square, the theater district of downtown Cleveland, opens in front of you. This is the largest performing arts center in the United States outside New York City — only Lincoln Center is larger — a cluster of stages and palaces that first rose in a breath of construction, completed in a span of 19 months in the early 1920s. For much of the 20th century these theaters were a major entertainment hub for the city; by the late 1960s the district had fallen into decline and the theaters had closed.
In the 1970s a grassroots revival refired this place, ushering in a new era of downtown revitalization — a comeback so important people call it one of the top ten successes in Cleveland history. Across the story you can trace the vision of Joseph Laronge, who after World War I, and after opening the Stillman movie house on East 12th, imagined a row of theaters along Euclid Avenue between East 14th and East 17th. Laronge and New York magnate Marcus Loew founded Loew's Ohio Theatres; the organization’s first two houses, the Ohio and the State — now known as the KeyBank State — started the district you see.
This grassroots revival of the 1970s remains one of Cleveland's top ten historic comebacks for you to witness.